Look what I got in the mail

I received this today from Donna over at Quilted Table isn't it pretty. The orange and green squares are only 1/2" and the pretty shamrocks are embroidered. She did a wonderful job on it.
I have two more swaps to receive but with the bad weather and the holiday Monday I probably won't get anything til Tues or Wed.
I made a banana cake today and now have a meatloaf in the oven. DD didn't get to come today because she is still weak and I can't help her in the bathroom if she can't stand up. Hopefully after her doctor's visit Monday she will be stronger.
I guess they were going to Walmart to do grocery shopping so at least she got out of the house. She will be off work for a while.

Speaking of Walmart mine has done away with the fabric and it really upsets me. The only reasonable place I have to buy it now is Joann's. I didn't buy a lot at Walmart but I liked having some choice in the matter. They had nice calicos.
I know a lot of their stores have done away with fabric and I was hoping ours would keep it a lot longer.
Daytona is tomorrow and I hope it is a safe race. I want somebody to win who hasn't before. There are a lot of them racing.
Have a great rest of the weekend and thanks for reading
Darlene

Cold Monday...

Well it was disappointing to see the Colts lose but at least the winner was a team that had never won the Super Bowl before. And besides it seems like every person on TV was rooting for the Saints to win. But there is always next year.

The weather has been so cold the only good thing is the sun is out and my DH bought a snow blower today to be prepared for the next blast which is coming Tues and Wed. Our mailman still comes but we have to go out there to get it from him since the mailbox is packed with snow in front of it. Snow blowers won't go thru ice and that it what it is.

I have been working on my 9 patch blocks for a swap. They were fun to make here is a photo of six of themI don't have a lot of scraps but what I put together I think is really pretty.

I also am trying to do a BOM of a Spring table topper. This is what I have so far

Our DD had her surgery last week and did really well she said she had no pain and couldn't wait to get out of the hospital. We visited her at her house yesterday and I took her some candy for V-Day.

I sent out all of my swaps last Tuesday and everybody received theirs in good shape now I get to wait on mine to come. LOL

Thanks for reading

Hey it's Saturday---

Well it has been a pretty good day. DD arrived after missing last weekend, because of a broken windshield in their van, which is fixed now. She is having surgery Wednesday morning to have a pump put in for the Baclovan to help her walk and move around a lot better. She has been like a lump now for over a year and that's not like her. She has walked on a walker since she was 5 years old and even walked in all the schools she went to. But with age and stuff she has really slowed down and it frustrates her. We will get up there before she goes into surgery and when she comes out. The staff will be there too around the clock.


I have been making pillow cases for my partner at BC, Jean, and they are fun to make. I have also finished the St Pat candle mat and it is ready to mail.


I am not in the doll quilt swap for February because I guess I am burned out and want to do something else. I have been in every one since last April.


I made an apple pie-like dish for supper. And next time I will use a firmer apple. The granny smith's turned to mush. It also called for brown sugar besides the white and it was too much for my taste. So I will change that too. This dish only has a top crust so that was interesting.

This is a sunflower block I made for the BOM on the Board.


Have a great weekend
Darlene

Another cloudy Friday in OHIO...

I don't know why I am writing on a Friday again just a coincidence I guess.

We went to the store again like always and then DH had a dr.'s appt. I have been working on a candle mat for a St. Patrick's swap and I have trouble with the flying geese points being cut off. I may do them over. I want to put a ruffle around the block too. But I may not too just do borders.

We went to a new Bog Lots yesterday to just look around and I spent over $30 LOL. They did have sweatshirts Jerzees no less for $5 so I got two of them. They don't carry clothes anymore so the store is a lot neater than I remember.

I am in a Valentine's swap too so I picked up a box of candy and a card but now I have to come up with some other things to send. I have a hearts doily I made awhile back and may send it to her too. This is the doll quilt I sent to my partner in Oklahoma. We had to send something about our home state. So I sent the whole state. LOL There are so many things about Ohio I couldn't figure out what to make.

She should receive it by Monday and I hope she likes it.

Darlene

A warmer Friday ....

Finally a break from the extreme cold weather it is 41° right now at 3 o'clock. Cloudy too.

We went to the store this morning. Then at 11 am took our cat Pancho to the vet for his rabies shot. The vet really liked him said he was unusual because he has extra toes on his back feet not just his front feet. I never noticed this before but his front paws are so cute he has thumbs really. I have seen him pick up a piece of cat food with them. He said Panchy is lucky to have someone who cares for him so much. That made me feel good.

I am making chili for supper.

I use 1 lb. ground chuck, half of a large onion chopped - fry this together and then drain well. Add 1 can tomato soup plus 1 soup can of water. Stir in 1 can Brooks Hot Chili beans and sprinkle over entire pot, Mexene chili powder or any chili powder you have. Cook about 1 hour and 15 minutes over medium heat. We add cooked spaghetti to this which I break in half before boiling. This is the way my Mom cooked it. We sprinkle shredded Cheddar over this after its ladled up. Enjoy.

I couldn't find Mexene chili powder around here anymore so I emailed the company and ordered 3 -2 oz. bottles I keep the extra in the freezer to keep it fresh.

Cold, cold Friday brrrr...

It is only about 11°right now way too cold for me. Have stayed home today, cleaned my bathroom, DH cleans his own. Also ran the sweeper in the whole upstairs.

I also made some great bean soup. I took ½ pound of Navy beans and soaked them in about a quart of water after boiling about 2 minutes. These soaked for about 6-7 hours. Drained all of the water and re- filled with fresh water. Chopped up 1 large carrot in small pieces, a stalk of celery and about 2-3 tablespoons of onion.

I bought some Ham Flavoring in the soup aisle (we used this in food service) and I put about a teaspoon full of this in the water along with small pieces of ham I had frozen. Do not add salt but pepper is okay. I cooked this on medium for two hours and it was so good. Oh and I chopped up a small potato and put it in after an hour of cooking for DH. This is sort of my take on Senate Bean Soup which is an old

recipe. My parents loved bean soup even though my dad couldn't eat many of the beans he loved the flavor of the broth. I also made Jiffy cornbread to go with this.

I am reading a good book called The First Patient it is a mystery about the White House.

Thanks for reading...

It is snowing...

It is snowing pretty hard right now 4-6" by tomorrow morning they say. Yuk!

Well it has been a long time since I was here and a lot has happened. Christmas was quiet and New Year's was too. LOL. My DH and I didn't exchange gifts since we really didn't need anything so we can get things when we really need them. Our DD liked our gifts to her which were mainly clothes.

I have been busy making a challenge quilt for Small Quilts group and it turned out pretty good. It is the Bear Paw one from Kathy's book Prairie Children and Their Quilts. This is a photo I took.

Now I am working on a St. Patrick's candle mat for a swap at Quilted Table. This is a new group for me and I am excited to do this. I think I have figured out what to make. I haven't received my secret partner's name yet but should have it soon.

I am also going to be in a pillow case swap at Block Central sometime in February. I made a practice pillow case and it turned out great I didn't get a photo of it before I gave it to my DD. We will get our partners sometime next week. Betty is running it and we may have one every 3 - 4 months. I wish you could buy single sheets instead of sets all the time. I really need to get some fabric for this one.

I had lunch with my friend Karol at Cracker Barrel on New Year's Day and saw some really pretty quilts there at reasonable prices. They were all embroidered and machine quilted.

Thanks for reading